Darren Turner and Tomas Enge converted their pole position into the first win of the weekend at the Nürburgring as Turner took the chequered flag in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9 to claim victory in the FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying Race.  The rain returned in the second half of the race, forcing most of the teams to complete a second pitstop for Michelin wets, but the Young Driver Aston continued to be the car to beat this weekend in wet or dry conditions.  Second place went to the Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette Z06 of Alex Margaritis and Marc Hennerici, finishing nine seconds behind the lead car in the tricky conditions.  Peter Kox and Christopher Haase completed the top three in the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago with Kox taking the flag ahead of Ricardo Zonta in the nr25 Reiter Lamborghini.

The race got underway with cars going four or five wide into the first corner. The nr13 Phoenix Racing Corvette of Alex Margaritis made a good start from 3rd on the grid, diving down the inside of Enge's Aston Martin at the first corner to take the lead. The nr23 Sumo Power Nissan of Peter Dumbreck got a great start but had to brake hard after an incident with another car and ran into the back the nr7 Aston Martin.  While Enge managed to control the car and exit T1 in third place, the spinning Nissan caused chaos behind as several cars were forced to take avoiding action.  The nr9 Hexis Aston Martin was one casualty, with Yann Clairay pulling the car off the track into retirement, while several other cars continued with bodywork damage.  The nr23 Nissan pulled into the pitlane into retirement at the end of the first lap.

Enge recovered and swept past the second placed Vitaphone Maserati of Michael Bartels on the inside at Turn 1 on lap two and two laps later moved ahead of the leading Corvette before opening up a four second gap as the pit window approached. 

The rain clouds started to gather over the Nürburgring and most of the cars waited for the last minute to pit to save time should the rain come.  However the rain did arrive just after the Pit Window closed and the drivers faced a dilemma whether to stay out on slicks and hope it was a short shower or pit for wets.  Most chose the later option with the notable exception of Andrea Bertolini in the nr1 Vitaphone Maserati, who took over the lead as the rest pitted for wet tyres.  However the rain continued to fall and while Bertolini was sliding around Darren Turner, now at the wheel of the nr7 Aston Martin, closed a 19 second gap in two laps and swept past the struggling Maserati.  Bertolini was passed by Marc Hennerici in the Phoenix Racing Corvette and Peter Kox in the Reiter Lamborghini in quick order as the Italian continued to struggle with the wet conditions.

Turner now had a comfortable 9 second lead over Hennerici's Corvette as the race drew to a close and took the chequered flag to the delight of the Young Driver AMR team lining the wall.  The Reiter team also celebrated a third and fourth place finish as Ricardo Zonta followed Peter Kox across the line.

Tomas Enge - nr7 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9: "This was an interesting race. The beginning was great I saw a gap on the inside and managed to get away in first place. We had a very strong car by the end of the race, when I was driving I kept it fairly calm and tried to not to do anything stupid. Nearing the end of my drive I tried to make a gap to make it easier for Darren. This was a good race, we got some points which were very happy about and let's see what can happen tomorrow."

Darren Turner - nr7 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9: "I have to say Tomas [Enge] made a great call with the pit stop. I was coming round the last chicane and I got the call to pit so there must have been some rain on other parts of the track. We were the last car to pit and after we came out the tyres were cold and I saw the Corvette closing in on me. I was then told to pit again to fit the wet tyres which was a relief. From then on it was one of the those nervy races where you just watching the pit wall, watching your mirrors and just trying to keep the car on the track." 

Race 1 (Qualifying Race):

1 Turner / Enge - Aston Martin DB9 - 28 giri in 1:00:21.518
2 Hennerici / Margaritis - Corvette Z06 - a 10.356
3 Kox / Haase - Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S - a 20.342
4 Zonta / Kechele - Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R - a 32.077
5 Piccione / Hirschi - Aston Martin DB9 - a 36.317
6 Mutsch / Westbrook - Ford GT Matech - a 47.167
7 Ramos / Bernoldi - Maserati MC12 - a 52.861
8 Prost / Jani - Ford GT Matech - a 58.076
9 Nygaard / Mücke - Aston Martin DB9 - a  58.793
10 Bertolini / Bartels - Maserati MC12  - a 1:15.659
11 Schwager / Pastorelli - Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S  - a  1:19.473 
12 Kuppens / Palttala - Ford GT - a 1:21.677
13 Heger / Müller - Maserati MC12 - a 1:41.826
14 Wendlinger / Moser - Nissan GT - R  - a 1:51.267
15 Salo / Kuismanen - Corvette Z06 - a 1:51.801
16 Hughes / Campbell-Walter - Nissan GT - R - a 1:55.947 
17 Ara / Nilsson - Nissan GT - R - a 1 giro
18 Maassen / Menten - Corvette Z06 - a 4 giri
19 Martin / Leinders - Ford GT  - a 23 giri
20 Krumm / Dumbreck - Nissan GT - R  - a 27 giri 

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